Food ritual Christianity and Buddhism

Offering Food

The first Buddhist monks did not build monasteries. Instead, they were homeless mendicants who begged for all their food. Their only possessions were their robe and begging bowl.

Today, in many predominately Theravada countries like Thailand, monks still rely on receiving alms for most of their food. The monks leave the monasteries early in the morning. They walk single file, oldest first, carrying their alms bowls in front of them. Laypeople wait for them, sometimes kneeling, and place food, flowers or incense sticks in the bowls. Women must be careful not to touch the monks.

The monks do not speak, even to say thank you. The giving of alms is not thought of as charity. The giving and receiving of alms creates a spiritual connection between the monastic and lay communities. Laypeople have a responsibility to support the monks physically, and the monks have a responsibility to support the community spiritually.

The practice of begging for alms has mostly disappeared in Mahayana countries, although in Japan monks periodically do takuhatsu, "request" (taku) "with eating bowls" (hatsu). Sometimes monks recite sutras in exchange for donations. Zen monks may go out in small groups, chanting "Ho" (dharma) as they walk, signifying that they are bringing the dharma.

Monks practicing takuhatsu wear large straw hats that partly obscure their faces. The hats also prevent them from seeing the faces of those giving them alms. There is no giver and no receiver; just giving and receiving. This purifies the act of giving and receiving.

Other Food Offerings

Ceremonial food offerings also are a common practice in Buddhism. The precise rituals and doctrines behind them differ from one school to another. Food may be simply and silently left on an altar, with a small bow, or the offering might be accompanied by elaborate chants and full prostrations. However it is done, as with the alms given to monks, offering food on an altar is an act of connecting with the spiritual world. It is also a means to release selfishness and open the heart to the needs of others.

It is a common practice in Zen to make food offerings to the hungry ghosts. During formal meals during sesshin, and offering bowl will be passed or brought to each person about to partake of the meal. Everyone takes a small piece of food from his bowl, touches it to the forehead, and places it in the offering bowl. The bowl is then ceremonially placed on the altar.

Hungry ghosts represent all of our greed and thirst and clinging, which bind us to our sorrows and disappointments. By giving away something that we crave, we unbind ourselves from our own clinging and neediness to think of others.

Memories of perfect harmony — Free Malaysia TodayWe respected one another's values and beliefs, so much so that I filled my chest with teachings of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Atheism and so on, in addition to the compulsory Islamic classes for all Muslim girls.

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Native American please answer?

Sunka Luta; Red Dog? These are the sort of things that are pretty much specific to the plains people, Sioux, Cheyenne Arapahoe etc. These things are also not going to be discussed much in a forum like this by Natives who are actually involved in these cultural and spiritual ceremonies. You need to get in touch with a traditional in your family or tribe to help you with this stuff. Y A is not going to be much help. When I was a kid, Grandpa would get up early, and take his sage and tobacco up and sing and smudge at daybreak. He put his hat on, but never paint or feathers. Our ways out her…

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Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to a higher purpose or to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.
While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering (Latin oblatio) can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts. For offerings of liquids (beverages) by...

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